Why an Indian Must Learn a 'Dead Language' Called Sanskrit

"If I was asked what is the greatest treasure which India possesses and what is her greatest heritage, I would answer unhesitatingly that it is the Sanskrit language and literature and all that it contains. This is a magnificent inheritance, and so long as this endures and influences the life of our people, so long will the basic genius of India continue."

---  Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (Quoted from The Discovery of India)

Starting an article which will deal with the need of Sanskrit (संस्कृत) education with a quote of Pandit Nehru, I think a good idea. I am not saying (neither agreeing, nor denying) that he is the best person around the globe to comment on it. But I think, if I do so, at least, people would not label me as a 'biased' or communal person. Yes, today 'Sanskrit' is also a communal word  like 'Saffron'- the credit obviously goes to the some of the eminent columnists and journalists. (I often wonder how easily something can be tagged with 'communal' or 'secular' in today's India; but lets not go into that right now. Let us first focus on our core issue).

Rigveda in Devanagari (image via Wikipedia)

There are debates (probably more than enough to confuse anyone) on whether Sanskrit can be called a dead language or not. Many a scholar has given their own outlooks. And almost every opinion added a new dimension to the problem and made it more critical to solve.

 Prof. Sheldon Pollock was the famous one who tried to prove that Sanskrit is a dead language and tried to discover the reasons behind it in his paper "The Death of Sanskrit". He wrote on the very first paragraph of it: 

  "In the age of Hindu identity politics (Hindutva) inaugurated in the 1990s by the ascendancy of the Indian People's Party (Bharatiya Janata Party) and its ideological auxiliary, the World Hindu Council (Vishwa Hindu Parishad), Indian cultural and religious nationalism has been promulgating ever more distorted images of India's past. Few things are as central to this revisionism as Sanskrit, the dominant culture language of precolonial southern Asia outside the Persianate order. Hindutva propagandists have sought to show, for example, that Sanskrit was indigenous to India, and they purport to decipher Indus Valley seals to prove its presence two millennia before it actually came into existence. In a farcical repetition of Romantic myths of primevality, Sanskrit is considered—according to the characteristic hyperbole of the VHP—the source and sole preserver of world culture." 

He had identified four major reasons (or cases, to be specific) behind this 'death' - 

• The disappearance of Sanskrit literature in Kashmir. 

• The decreased use of it in sixteenth-century Vijayanagara.

• The short-lived moment of modernity of Sanskrit at the Mughal court in mid-seventeenth-century Delhi. 

• It's loss of importance completely in Bengal on the eve of colonialism.

He even compared this scenario with the death of Latin  - 

Both died slowly, and earliest as a vehicle of literary expression, while much longer retaining significance for learned discourse with its universalist claims. Both were subject to periodic renewals or forced rebirths, sometimes in connection with a politics of translocal aspiration... At the same time... both came to be ever more exclusively associated with narrow forms of religion and priestcraft, despite centuries of a secular aesthetic.

 [The complete paper can be downloaded for free from Columbia University Website. I may not agree with him, but I have to say, it is an interesting read] 

Obviously, there is a class of scholar who very strongly objected Prof. Pollock's view. The most noted criticism probably came from Prof. J. Hanneder. He explicitly wrote in his paper On "The Death of Sanskrit"  (published in Indo-Iranian Journal) - 

On a more public level the statement that Sanskrit is a dead language is misleading, for Sanskrit is quite obviously not as dead as other dead languages and the fact that it is spoken, written and read will probably convince most people that it cannot be a dead language in the most common usage of the term. Pollock’s notion of the “death of Sanskrit” remains in this unclear realm between academia and public opinion when he says that “most observers would agree that, in some crucial way, Sanskrit is dead”

[This paper may seems to be more fascinating for someone, but unfortunately subscriber access to Indo-Iranian Journal is necessary to read this.]

Again, noted scholar (UC Berkeley alum) and President medal winner Ram Karan Sharma also thinks that it is quite unjustified to label Sanskrit as a dead language. He said during a national convention on "Sanskrit language, literature and education" organised by Bihar Sanskrit Shiksha Board, 

 "...not withstanding the fact that Sanskrit has been used from time immemorial, even now Bihar's languages and dialects are using Sanskritic derivatives, like "eso" in Bhojpuri comes from the Sanskrit word "aishmah" and "chichiana" (again Bhojpuri) from the Sanskrit word "shishyanan" referring to fire, although few people can correlate the two easily. This can be found in all Indian languages."

 But discussing on which opinion is to be voted up, is the last thing that I want to do with this piece of post (As I believe, a blog is hardly a suitable place to criticize some peer-reviewed content). I have put the points and counter-points only to prove that there is still huge scope of discussion in this question. For the sake of further discussion here, let me agree with intellectuals like Prof. Pollock up to this point i.e. they have done an absolutely right job by labeling Sanskrit as 'dead language'. 

But, if we explore Prof. Pollock's article some more, we would see, during his venture to discover the reasons of that death, he has gone beyond this. His points are - 

1.  Sanskrit is dead as it is hardly used today.

2. After the period of Zain-ul-Abidin creation of original literary verse in Sanskrit became rare. It was reduced to reinscription and restatements of ideas already explored, and any creativity in Sanskrit was restricted to hymns. It indicates the 'brain-death' of Sanskrit. In his words,

What was lost was something more elusive but more central to the life of a culture: the ability to create new literature.

3. Sanskrit is a out-of-date language which cannot go with today's world. Or even it is used, that would be limited to literary verses and nothing else). He tried to provide logic behind this also. For example, in one place, he wrote - 

During the course of this vernacular millennium, as I have called it, Sanskrit, the idiom of a cosmopolitan literature, gradually died, in part because cosmopolitan talk made less and less sense in an increasingly regionalized world. 

Now my main objection is here. From now onward, we will try to find out why we cannot be satisfied with his third argument, why we have to revive Sanskrit even if we consider it as a 'dead language' and why Sanskrit is a MUST, even in this twenty first century. 

Brain Exercise - Advantage of Devanagari Script:

 The first point which gives Sanskrit an edge over many other languages is its script. Usually Sanskrit is written in Devanagari. A recent research by the scientists of National Brain Research Centre (NBRC) have discovered that reading Devanagari involves more areas of human brain than Roman Scripts (please note, English uses a roman script). That means learning Sanskrit is a good exercise for human brain.According to them, In Devanagari, consonants are written in a linear left-to-right order and vowel signs are positioned above, below or on either side of the consonants. As a result, the vowel precedes the consonant in writing certain words but follows it in speech making it a unique script. "Our results suggest bilateral activation-participation from both left and right hemispheres of the brain-for reading phrases in Devanagari", they concluded [Source: India Today Report].

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The Last Part of this article: "What is Sanskrit?" - A Pathetic Case of Dereliction

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Knowledge of Sanskrit Helps One in Learning English: 

It is now seen that knowledge in Sanskrit accelerates the learning of English (Please note, though we had strongly advocated for vernacular as the medium of instruction in school level previously, we never deny the importance of English at a time when we are residing in a global village). This news may astonish someone on the first glance. But, we need to keep in mind that  it has a perfect grammar and nicely-built structure. Once KWH Schlegel, an eminent German critic, said (in his book History of Literature, p. 117) -"Justly it is called Sanskrit, i.e. perfected, finished.....The Sanskrit combines these various qualities, possessed separately by other tongues: Grecian copiousness, deep-toned Roman force, the divine afflatus characterizing the Hebrew tongue."

 Probably, that's why if someone learn Sanskrit properly, he can learn English quickly. Ficino School in Mt Eden area of Auckland (a school in New Zealand) has experimented with it and found that Sanskrit provides a roadmap for understanding English. Besides giving a clear view of the structure of language, it also heightens "their awareness of the process of speech, creating a greater understanding of and ability to, enunciate words clearly."

We can shift our look from southern hemisphere to northern, but scenario doesn't change at all. As St. James School (a school at London where Sanskrit is compulsory at the age of 11) teacher tells, apart from the fact that the children are immensely benefited afterwards in learning English , the  most note-worthy point is they ENJOY learning Sanskrit. Though I have not experimented with a pool of students, still from my personal experience, I can bet, not only for English, but the learning curve for Bengali or Hindi would be easy for a child if he learn Sanskrit first.

One Step Towards Spiritual Upliftment: 

The advantage of learning Sanskrit is obviously not limited to the advantage of learning English. In fact, it is a bold step towards becoming a 'perfect man'. Quoting Rutger Kortenhorst, a Sanskrit teacher in the John Scottus School in Dublin, we can advice any parent:
"The qualities of Sanskrit will become the qualities of your child- that is the mind and heart of your child will become beautiful, precise and reliable. Sanskrit automatically teaches your child and anybody else studying it to pay FINE attention due to its uncanny precision. When the precision is there the experience is, that it feels uplifting. It makes you happy. It is not difficult even for a beginner to experience this. All you have to do is fine-tune your attention and like music you are drawn in and uplifted. This precision of attention serves all subjects, areas and activities of life both while in school and for the rest of life." (Courtesy: Dr. Anuradha Chaudry).

Practical Advantages: 

If someone does not know Sanskrit, he is obviously missing something. He cannot get the clear perspective of Vedas, Geeta, Upanishads, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Arthashashtra and many other books, which are till regarded as the finest piece by a large portion of our society (Translated versions almost always create a wall behind the reader and the original book).

Even to be a master of subjects like Ayurvedic Medicine, Yoga, Indian philosophy, Vedic Mathematics or Astrology, one need to know Sanskrit to some extent.

Sanskrit - the Best Language for Computer:

 Yes, one can be astonished, but this is probably true. In near future NASA is going to use Sanskrit as a computer Language.

NASA is Going to use Sanskrit as Computer Language

NASA scientist Rick Briggs discussed why Sanskrit is one of the best language for use in computer long ago (in 1985) in his paper Knowledge Representation in Sanskrit and Artificial Intelligence. According to him, Sanskrit is the natural language in which a message can be sent by the computer in the least number   of words. Three excerpts from that paper, I find particularly worth-mentioning.
            

*There is at least one language, Sanskrit, which for the duration of almost 1000 years was a living spoken language with a considerable literature of its own Besides works of literary value, there was a long philosophical and grammatical tradition that has continued to exist with undiminished vigor until the present century. Among the accomplishments of the grammarians can be reckoned a method for paraphrasing Sanskrit in a manner that is identical not only in essence but in with current work in Artificial Intelligence...a natural language can serve as an artificial language also, and that much work in AI has been reinventing a wheel millenia old.

**...The reasoning of these authors is couched in a style of language that had been developed especially to formulate logical relations with scientific precision. It is a terse, very condensed form of Sanskrit, which paradoxically at times becomes so abstruse that a commentary is necessary to clarify it.

***It should be pointed out that these Sanskrit Grammatical Scientists actually wrote and talked this way. The domain for this type of language was the equivalent of today's technical journals. In their ancient journals and in verbal communication with each other they used this specific, unambiguous form of Sanskrit in a remarkably concise way.

Sanskrit as a Career Option: 

Sanskrit is recognized as 'mother of all languages' throughout the greater portion of the world. Even if you aiming for a bright career only, Sanskrit can provide it, till today. Harvard to Cambridge, Oxford to Trinity college Dublin - you can end up with a faculty post in some highly ranked universities.

Mode of Hindu Survival: 

Sanskrit and only Sanskrit is the language which should bubbles up in our mind  even if we merely think about Hindu Survival. Probably, it is needless to mention that if Hindus want to revive their past glory, the first thing which comes into mind is the unification of Hindus. And if Hindus really want to think that "Our sole identity is we are Hindu", they need some common points. Only religion and some rituals cannot satisfy the criteria. And the first common platform where all Hindus have to arrive is the Language (If someone consider Bangladesh Liberation War, he would get a clear perspective on how language matters). And this language cannot be anything but Sanskrit.

One may question - Why not Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu or something like that. The answer lies in the question itself. Which one you would choose? Apparently the best option is obviously Hindi (with may be Bengali with a ~83 million native speakers).

 First we remember that day, when Dr. Rajendra Prasad, cast the deciding vote in favor of Hindi (as the link language) in the Constituent Assembly , to the detriment of the other candidate, Sanskrit. But if we see at the national and international picture, we can easily identify that Hindi is NOT well-accepted in a large portion of Hindus. Till today, the greater portion of educated speakers of Bengali, Telugu or Tamil consider Hindi as a vulgar language. That's why most of the Hindu children whose mother-tongue is not Hindi, didn't go for Hindi education. And they also question - Why should I learn Hindi? Is it better than my mother-tongue? 

The case is worst for mixed families (pretty common practice today if someone considers the NRI families). Their child often don't know any Indian Language. They learn English only, which is basically a Foreign Language. If we want to introduce another languages, unmistakably it would be a massive failure. But Sanskrit may not be. 

The greater portion of Hindus still have enough sympathy for Sanskrit. And, for almost all Hindus, learning Sanskrit is a difficult or easy job to the same extent. Dr. Koenraad Elst rightly said in his article "Hindu Survival: What Is to Be Done"- 
 Still Sanskrit is the only chance the lovers of India have. Hindi failed, and English will only weaken Indian unity, apart  from being an utterly undignified choice of link language.

In fact, if you extend our discussion a bit, we can discover that Sanskrit is not only a way of Hindu Survival, rather it is the best option for national language. Let me quote Naziruddin Ahmed, a Muslim League leader, who openly advocated for Sanskrit - 

“I offer you a language which is the grandest and the greatest, and it is impartially difficult, equally difficult for all to learn."

 [Source: Constituent Assembly Debates 1334, quoted in Ramaswamy, 354-355, via 
International Forum for India's Heritage]

There are many strong arguments in favor of  Sanskrit. And I think, most of them are nicely discussed in a chapter of 'The Wonder That was Sanskrit' book. In a paper, Prof. Makarand Paranjape (Professor of English at JNU) also finely tried to establish the case of Sanskrit as India's national Language. I have tried to sum-up the arguments:

• Only a language that is native to a country, that is, a language that has taken birth and developed in a particular country, can be the national language of that country. English, though wide-spread, doesn't satisfy this criteria.

• India's national language has to be one which is not regional. Sanskrit is alone non-regional. No province or state or people can claim it as its own.

•  Though Sanskrit has no regional identity, still it had served as a link-language. English cannot be the binding force between well-educated and illiterate India. Again, Hindi also can create mere division. Between native and non-native Hindi speakers. 
• Again, in contradistinction to English, Sanskrit is the “mother” of most Indian tongues. All these including Tamil have a large percentage of words derived from Sanskrit. Sanskrit through the well known processes of Tatsam (words borrowed as they are from Sanskrit) and Tadbhava (words derived from Sanskrit but modified), it is estimated that almost 70% of the words of most modern Indian languages are from Sanskrit. That is why it is possible for people in India from different parts of India to understand each other even if they speak different languages. After all, there is a common vocabulary not to speak of a great deal of similarities in syntax. 
• Sanskrit is change with the times, and it can produce an infinite variety of new words. Again these words can enrich the vocabulary of modern Indian languages.  

A table on that paper simply nailed all Sanskrit-phobic childish arguments. It is really worth sharing [So, I took a screenshot of that and adding it here]. 

In conclusion, we can say that it is Sanskrit which can be the common platform of communication. Through it, we can feel that we, Indians, irrespective of cast, creed or religion are brothers. And at the same time, we can take pride in our magnificent past culture. So, Sanskrit is not basically the best option, rather it is the ONLY option. In the current situation, where none has "national language of India" tag, Govt. of India should put it on Sanskrit. And of course, sooner is better.  


Now, considering the entire scenario, in my opinion, it would be a sin, if someone, being an Indian, doesn't learn Sanskrit or show enough audacity to to neglect it's importance. But, this is one of the common practices among a section of shameless Indians. But, that is a different story. And we will discuss that in detail in the next article.